All about points on the board for cool McCarthy

One win from two isn’t going to get Ronan McCarthy excited nor would he have been ecstatic had Cork beaten Tipperary first day out.

Before Christmas, the manager asked supporters not to get too carried away with early results in Division 2 regardless of their nature.

It might have seemed he was playing the patience card with the number of players unavailable to him, but then Sunday’s win in Down has put Cork back on course.

The visit of Louth provides an opportunity to make home advantage count, unlike in the opening match against Tipperary, and Cork go into it with confidence restored.

The two points simply eases things, he says. “You have your principles and the way you want the team to move forward — and it’s a lot easier to do that with points on the board.

“If we had been beaten by Down, it would have added pressure for the game against Louth but that’s part and parcel of it. We have to steer our course and not be knocked off course despite setbacks.

I said before the league started that if we won our first two league games, I didn’t want people getting excited.”

McCarthy was thrilled with the execution of his team, particularly in the second half of last Sunday’s win in Newry. “The great thing about winning (against Down) is that it’s always difficult to win away from home.

"As a player myself, I would have been beaten in places like Aughrim and Mullingar in the league and it’s always difficult to win on the road.

“To do it in the manner we did it and to be very defensively sound when we had been very open the previous week it’s good stuff but we still have a lot to do.”

McCarthy is set to be without midfielders Cillian O’Hanlon and Aidan Walsh for the game as O’Hanlon nurses the injury he sustained against Down and Walsh recovers from the shoulder problem he picked up in Kanturk’s All-Ireland intermediate club hurling final win last Sunday.

Walsh’s dislocated shoulder could see him miss out on the remainder of the league.

Meanwhile, 2010 All-Ireland SFC winning captain Graham Canty has retired from club football.

The Bantry Blues man, who turns 38 in July, confirmed to the Southern Star newspaper that he has played his last game for the club.

“I’ll miss it. I don’t know of anything that will ever compare to playing football but now feels like it’s the right thing to step back from it all.”

Elsewhere, new Connacht chairman Gerry McGovern has called for the introduction of a tiered All-Ireland football championship.

The Leitrim Observer reports McGovern made the following comments at the recent provincial convention: “For some counties, I believe it is time to grasp the nettle.

"Robust discussions in relation to their participation in a form of tiered-championship, following their exit from the provincial championship.

"This would give teams from the less successful counties the opportunity to compete at their own level, play matches in Croke Park, and get promotion to the next grade.”